Varuṇa, the Guardian of Morality in the Ṛgveda

Rohana Seneviratne
Department of Classical Languages
University of Peradeniya

Varuṇa to whom a plethora of hymns in the Ṛgveda are addressed is highlighted in

the Ṛgvedic pantheon1 as the godhead of morality. As many attributes are ascribed to
him, it is not unfair to introduce Varuṇa as one of the best anthropomorphically
depicted divinities. He terrifies the guilty but is most compassionate to the virtuous.
In this paper, I briefly discuss how Varuṇa is described as the protector of morality
with reference to the relevant Ṛgvedic hymns so that it will produce a detailed image
of the morality that prevailed in the ancient Vedic society.

1. Etymology

The etymology of the name ‘Varuṇa’ is unclear as is the case with the names of many
other Vedic gods. There are many discrepancies between the etymologies suggested
by scholars. One suggestion is that the term ‘Varuṇa’ is derived from the root ‘√vṛ’ or
‘√var’ which denotes ‘to cover’, ‘to screen’, ‘to veil’, ‘to conceal’, ‘to hide’, ‘to
surround’ or ‘to obstruct’ in the Ṛgveda. In addition to these meanings, these two
roots have the meanings of ‘to ward off’, ‘to check’, ‘to keep back’, ‘to prevent’, ‘to
hinder’ or ‘to restrain’ in the Atharvaveda. Yāska, the great etymologist, in his
Nirukta,2 also proposes that the root √vṛ means ‘to cover’ or to ‘encompass’. Hence
‘Varuṇa’ may mean ‘the one who encompasses (the sky)’. According to the majority
of scholars, who discuss the derivation of this name from the root √vṛ and the
presence thereof in the Vedic texts, Varuṇa is a sky god surrounding the firmament3.
H. Peterson, who does not accept the meaning of ‘sky god’ ascribed to Varuna,
prefers to introduce him as a binder-god, as he assumes √vṛ to have its root-
equivalent in the proto Indo-European language as '∗er-' denoting a meaning ‘to
bind’ or ‘to fetter’.4 Varuṇa, being introduced as a moon-god5, a god of death6, a god

1 In the religion of the Ṛgveda, the presence of a pantheon is doubted as there are no monotheistic
views in general and each divinity when eulogized or implored seems independent within the early
Vedic contexts. P. S. Deshmukh (1933) The Origin and Development of Religion in the Vedic
Literature (Oxford): 123.
2 Nirukta – 10.3
3 A. Keigi (1881) Der Ṛgveda, die älteste Literatur der Inder (Leipzig); L. Schroeder (1887) Indiens

Literatur und Cultur in Historischer Entwicklung (Leipzig); A. Barth (1914) Oeuvres de Auguste.
Barth I (Paris); E. W. Hopkins (1895) The Religions of India (Boston); A. A. McDonell (1897) Vedic
Mythology, Grundriss der Indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde (Strassburg); M. Bloomfield
(1908) The Religion of the Veda, American Lectures on the History of Religions 7 (New York); R.
Pettazzoni (1920) La religione di Zarathustra nella storia religosa dell'Iran (Bologna); A. B. Keith
(1933) 'The God Varuṇa' The Indian Historical Quarterly 9 : 515-520 and A.B. Keith (1936) 'Varuṇa
and Ouranos' Indian Culture 3 (Calcutta): 421-430 are some of the publications in which Varuṇa is
introduced as a Sky-God. Cf. Deshmukh (1933): 62-63.
4 E. Tegnér (1918) Einige Beiträge zu den Götternamen Mitra und Varuṇa (Berlin): 156-158.
5 H. Oldenberg (1894) Die Religion des Veda (Berlin): 178, A. Hillebrandt (1929) Vedische

Mythologie 2 (Breslau): 1-4.

6 J.J. Meyer (1937) Trilogie Altindischer Mächte und Feste der Vegetation III (Zrich): 199, K.F.

Johansson (1917) ber die Altindische Göttin und Verwandtes Dhiṣaṇā (Uppsala): 125-127.
of an Āryan tribe7, an Austro-Asiatic sea god8, or a mere sea god9, proves that his
many epithets have caused extreme confusion. However, Varuṇa’s role in the
Ṛgveda is singularly significant.

Considering that the Greek name ‘Oύρανός’ (Ouranos) is believed to have the
etymological meaning ‘to shut up’ or ‘to imprison’10, many scholars in comparative
philology were tempted to compare the names, Varuṇa and Ouranos, and it is
commonly accepted that they correspond to each other.11 Avesta, the main scripture
of the Zoroastrian religion mentions Ahura Mazda (lit. the wise lord) as the deity
who maintains morality12 and who even knows the innermost thoughts of men13.
This, as philologists comment, shows that there is an affinity between the names
Varuṇa and Ahura Mazda, because in the Ṛgveda, Varuṇa is also called ‘asura’14.
‘Ahura’ in the Avesta and ‘asura’ in the Ṛgveda appear to have phonological
similarities though it is a little doubtful whether they are the same morphologically.
Ahura is said to be akin to ‘voltus’ or ‘vultus’ in Latin which means ‘visage’ or
‘expansion of countenance’15 but this requires further investigation. Some prefer to
consider ‘asura’ as a word comprising two phonetic units ‘asu-ra’ where ‘asu-’ is to
mean ‘breath of life or life (in general)’16. The word ‘asura’ underwent a change in
meaning17 in later periods as one denoting an opponent of gods. The Boghazköi
inscription contained three names of deities who are also found in the Ṛgveda of
which ‘ú-ru-a-na’ is generally regarded as corresponding to ‘Varuṇa’. This proved
that the origin of the name Varuṇa dates back to the Indo-Iranian period18. The word

7 K. Rönnow (1927) Trita Āptya eine Vedische Göttheit (Uppsala): 7-8.

8 J. Przyluski (1931) 'Varuṇa, God of the Sea and the Sky' The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
(London ): 613.
9 R. Pischel & K.F. Geldner (1892-97) Vedīsche Studien II (Stuttgart): 124, P. Kretschmer (1926)

'Varuṇa und die Urgeschichte der Inder' Wiener Zeitschrift Fr die Kunde des Morgenlandes 33
(Wien): 4-6.
Varuṇa’s being a Sea God or a God of Waters is determined not only in the Ṛgveda but also in the
post Vedic literature where Varuṇa represents the God of Ocean. Further, he is said to be the god
purifying waters especially in the later Vedic texts. Cf. ṚV.7.64.1; 7.49; AV. 7.83; ŚB. 4.4.5.10; 12.9.2.4
10 R. Scott & H. G. Liddell edd. (1843) (1961 reprint) A Greek English Lexicon (Oxford): 1094

col. 2
Scott and Liddell give several meanings to Ouranos, i.e. heaven or the sky, heaven as seat of the gods,
the space above the earth, all-surrounding space, a region of heaven or climate and so on. 'Uranos',
the son of Erebos and Gaia (Hes.Th.127 sq.) and the Latinized Greek term 'Uranus' is also widely
believed to be the best equivalent to Sanskrit ‘Varuṇa’.
Cf. T. C. Lewis & C. Short (1933) Freund's Latin Dictionary (Oxford): 1934.
11 A. Bergaigne (1893) La Religion Védique d'après les Hymnes du Ṛig-veda III (Paris): 112. But A.

Meillet rejects this etymology. Cf. A. Meillet (1907) 'Le dieu Indo-Iranien Mitra' Journal Asiatique
10.10 (Paris): 156.
12 Bloomfield (1908): 125.
13 Avesta – Y.31.13
14 ṚV. 1.24.14; 1.151.4; 2.27.10 etc.
15 J. Gonda (1974) The Dual Deities in the Religion of the Veda (Amsterdam): 168-170.
16 C. D. Buck (1949) A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-Aryan Languages

(Chicago): 159. Cf. Uhlenbeck (1898) A Manual of Sanskrit Phonetics (Luzac).

17 Iranians ascribed the title ‘asura’ to the gods of utmost degree of superiority or mightiness and

‘deva’ to nefarious spirits or demons while Indians used both as attributes to gods but in later times to
non-gods or to the opponents of gods. The Zoroastrian reforms were the main impetus to this
conversion, as scholars believe, by which the ancient nature-deities were declared malicious spirits.
Cf. S. Bhattacharji (1993) ‘Varuṇa’, in M. Eliade ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion 15 (New York): 189-
191.
18 O.Weber ed. (1917-1924) Boghazköi-Studien VIII (Leipzig): 32.
‘mazda’ in the Iranian term Ahura Mazda shows a morphophonemic affinity19 to the
Sanskrit word ‘medhira’ or ‘wise’. Further, Ahura Mazda is introduced as omniscient
or ‘all-knowing’ in the Avesta20 while Varuṇa, in the Ṛgveda is also depicted as an
all-knower.21

2. Varuṇa’s Figure

The physical figure of Varuṇa has to be determined by putting together the

miniature descriptions thereof scattered in the hymns to him in the Ṛgveda.
Regarding the consanguinity of Varuṇa to the other deities in the Ṛgveda, it is
interesting to note that he is called the son of Aditi (or an Āditya) and the brother of
Agni22. In the Mahābhārata, one of the great epics of a later period, Varuṇa is
described as a son of Kardama and the father of Puṣkara.

Compared to the hymns describing gods such as Indra, those describing the physical
appearance of Varuṇa are significantly very few. In the hymns addressed to Varuṇa,
his physical features are stated only laconically and some features are introduced in
common as those belonging to dual deities.23 It has thus become an arduous task to
create a complete physical image of Varuṇa.

However, if roughly outlined, Varuṇa has to be described as a god with the following
physical features. His face (anīkaṃ) resembles that of Agni as it glitters like flames.24
Bald-headed and fair-complexioned Varuṇa has yellow eyes that are often referred to
with much emphasis because his long-sightedness is also of much importance to
determine his role in the Vedic literary and philosophical contexts. For instance, he is
often called ‘urucakṣas’ or ‘far-sighted’.25 The golden sun roaming throughout the
firmament from dawn to dusk is said to be his eye26 and consequently, like the sun
that observes everything upon earth, he sees all with that eye without any hindrance.
One of the attributive names of Varuṇa, ‘sahasrākṣī’ or ‘thousand-eyed’ deserves
much recognition as it idiomatically implies Varuṇa’s incomparable capability to
observe everything. Further, this honorific title sahasrākṣī could be assigned to
Varuṇa if the Sun is considered to be his eye in the following manner. Thousands of
men from thousand places upon the earth can view the same Sun and feel as if each
one sees a separate Sun. On the other hand, the same Sun generates individual
perceptions within each, perhaps amounting to a thousand in number. Therefore
‘sahasrākṣī’ does not seem to be a misnomer. With these thousand ‘Sun-eyes’,
Varuṇa observes every nook and corner upon the earth. Being invoked, he would be

19 Gonda (1974): 162.

20 vīspo.viδvah (E. lit. tr. ‘all knowing’) – Avesta Yt. 1.12
vīspo.viδvå aδaoyamano (E. lit. tr. ‘the all knower’) – Avesta Yt. 12.1
21 asuro viśvavedāḥ (E. lit. tr. ‘the all-knowing asura’) – ṚV. 8.42.1

asuraḥ pracetāḥ (E. lit. tr. ‘the wise, attentive asura’) – ṚV. 1.24.14
22 ṚV. 7.64.2
23 Cf. Gonda (1974) ‘Mitra and Varuṇa’ : 145-208; ‘Indra and Varuṇa’:

229-271.
24 ṚV. 7. 88.2
25 ṚV. 1.25.5, 16
26 ‘svardṛśā’ – RV. 5.63.2, ‘ud vām cakṣur…eti’ – ṚV. 7.61.1

When Ṛgvedic poets praise dual deities of which one is Varuṇa, this very feature is assigned to both.
For instance, Mitrāvaruṇau or both Mitra and Varuṇa have this particular Sun-Eye.
Cf. ‘cakṣur mitrasya Varuṇaya’ (RV. 7.63.1), ‘cakṣur mitrasya varuṇasyāgneḥ’ (ṚV. 1.115.1;10.37.1),
‘cakṣur mahi miytayor…priyaṃ varuṇayor…’ Gonda (1974): 148.
present on the ‘barhiṣ’ or the sacrificial grass with his golden garb called ‘drāpi’
wrapped around and he accepts ‘āhuti’ or oblations.27 In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa,
Varuṇa is depicted as a matured godhead embellished with golden ornaments.28
According to certain citations in the Brāhmaṇa literature Varuṇa has a distorted and
repulsive figure. For instance, in the description of Avabhṛtha or the sacrificial bath
of the Aśvamedha sacrifice, he appears as an obscure figure called Jumbaka or
Jṛmbaka29 with a white (śukla) body, bald head, protruding teeth (viklīdha) and
reddish brown eyes (piṅgākṣa).30

Varuṇa’a abode as mentioned in the early Vedic texts is the atmosphere or ether,
though, in later contexts, he is said to be dwelling in an abode in the waters31 or to
have his region in the ocean. ‘Pastyāsu’ or the multi-pillared mansion of Varuṇa is
said32 to be in the ether and having thousand gates from which he starts roaming
over the sky in his glittering horse chariot. His feet are the rays of the Sun33; he sends
his intelligent spies to all places and they cannot be cheated. 34

3. Historical Background

Being variously introduced as one of the demigods or deva-gāndharvas, or as a

Nāga or the king of Nāgas or as an asura, Varuṇa seems to have a number of
representations in different contexts. He is also introduced as the supreme deity,
being again comprehensively called ‘the king of the gods and the king of both gods
and men’ or ‘the king of the universe’. There is no doubt that Varuṇa is one of the
deities descending from the clan of ‘divaukas’ or sky-dwellers honoured even before
the period of the earliest parts of the Ṛgveda.

In the panegyric hymns of the Ṛgveda, Varuṇa is often invoked together with his
brothers of the Āditya tribe, Mitra or Agni, and the heroic but liquor-loving god,
Indra. Further, the compound names ‘Mitrāvaruṇa’ and ‘Indravaruṇa’ are found
frequently.35 The hymns where Varuṇa’s might, glory, magnanimity and allied
characteristics are colourfully painted are few in the Ṛgveda in comparison to those
where other major deities like Indra and Agni are eulogized. The Varuṇa hymns are
remarkably varied in content and could be categorized as unctuously recited eulogies,
confessions, laments, requests and sarcasms etc. The Ṛgvedic hymns which are
confined to a description of Varuṇa, are only ten in number, i.e., 1.24,25; 2.28; 5.85;
7.86, 87, 88, 89 and 8.41,42. Besides these, there are those in which Varuṇa is
praised as a dual deity along with Mitra or Indra. The Atharvaveda, Sāmaveda and
Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa also contain hymns describing Varuṇa’s dexterous deeds,
though the content thereof are not completely analogous to those of the Ṛgvedic
hymns.

27 ṚV. 1.25.13.
28 ŚB. 13.3. 6.5.
29 VS. 30.9, ŚB. 13.3.6.5, TB. 3.9.15.
30 AV. 11.5.26.
31 ṚV.1.25.10.
32 ṚV. 1.25.10,11.
33 ṚV. 8.41.8.
34 ṚV. 1.24.13; 7.67.05, 7.87.03 etc.
35 Cf. 16th footnote for more on dual deities in the Ṛgveda.
In the earliest Maṇḍalas or the books of the Ṛgveda, there is almost no trace of
henotheism. Even in the later parts, monotheism does not seem to have developed as
a distinct feature.

na hi vo astyarbhako devā so na kumārakaḥ

viśve sato mahānta it 36

There is no one among you, O Nature Bounties, who is an infant or a youth.

Verily all of you are very great. 37

As shown in the verse cited above, there were no inferiors or superiors among the
Ṛgvedic deities and thus all were, at the time of invocation, regarded as having the
same greatness. However, this notion does not prevail in the hymns to Varuṇa where
he is introduced as the monarch of all celestial bodies, and further, of the whole
universe. Even a god does not dare transgress his immutable ordinances called
‘vratāni’.38 In seven instances, Varuṇa is called ‘dhṛtavrata’ or ‘one who maintains
the fixed rules of conduct’. If encapsulated, some of Varuṇa’s incredible deeds as
depicted in the Ṛgveda could be given as follows.

1. Varuṇa upholds both the firmament and the earth.

(2.28.1; 7.42.1; 5.63.7)
2. He sets the Sun in its place in the firmament, opens an
unobstructed avenue to roam and makes it glow. (5.62.3;
6.70.1; 7.86.1; 7.87.1,6)
3. The wind is nothing but his breathing. (7.82.2)
4. Rivers continue flowing through the ways prepared by
Varuṇa at his command. (1.24.8; 2.28.4; 7.87.1)
5. Rivers perform their duty of filling up seas but, as
Varuṇa commands and regulates the ocean never
overflows. (5.85.6 etc.)
6. The immutable, everlasting ordinances cause the crescent
to become the full moon in the first half of the month as
well as to disappear gradually in the latter half, and the
stars to glow brightly at night but to fade away at day
time. (1.24.10 etc.)
7. Varuṇa does know the behaviour patterns of all men,
birds and all creatures, even those of the wind and the
routes of ships in the sea. (1.25.7 etc.)
8. Varuṇa is definitely aware of all that has already been
done or is to be done in the future by everyone, thus,
nothing is secret to him and nothing could be hidden
from him. (1.25.7,8 etc.)
9. Without being noticed by Varuṇa, nobody could even
wink as he counts each and every wink of everybody.
(2.28.6 etc.)

36 ṚV. 8.30.1
37 All English renderings of the Ṛgvedic verses cited here are from Ṛgveda Saṃhitā (1977) by Svami
Satyaprakash Sarasvati and Satyakam Vidyalankar, Veda Prathiṣṭhāna (New Delhi).
38 ṚV. 8.41.7: ‘Varuṇa was the supreme lord of the universe (of lands, water and the sky, and was

omnipresent and omniscient) regulating and controlling all the natural phenomena by his immutable
laws.’ Cf. also A. Chandradas, (1925) Ṛgvedic culture (Delhi): 82.
 10.Truth and untruth among human beings are judged as
well as witnessed by him. (7.49.3)
11.The rising of ‘uṣas’ or the dawn without which the
world would remain in darkness and similarly the
falling of darkness are also due to Varuṇa’s
command.
12. Being omniscient and omnipresent, supercilious Varuṇa
excels all divinities.
13. Stars in the sky and ‘Soma’, the most sacred plant of
which the divine drink offered to gods is made, were
placed on the peaks of mountains by Varuṇa.
14. Varuṇa’s power is unlimited; he is greater than heaven
and earth; (1.24.6; 7.61.3) and he is often called the
king of all (2.27.10; 10.132.4) as well as the king of the
whole world.(5.85.3)
15. He established the provinces of the universe and he is
the upholder of the physical and moral order. (1.24.8;
6.70.1, 7.86.1; 7.87.5, 8.41. 3)
16. Varuṇa is referred to as the deity who regulates the
seasons knowing the twelve months. (1.25.8)
17. As one of his exclusive concerns, Varuṇa soaks all
pasture grounds so that cows may produce delicious
milk. (5.85.3)

4. Māyā, the Occult Power

The supernatural great occult power termed ‘māyā’ which is often mentioned in the
Varuṇa hymns is another prominent feature asserting his might. Māyā of which the
root is generally believed to be ‘√mā’ (to create)39 bears, within the context of the
Ṛgveda, the meaning ‘supernatural power’ or skill even though it has extended
meanings such as ‘illusion’ and ‘sexual love’ in late Sanskrit while in the Śatapatha
Brāhmaṇa it means both ‘fraud’ and ‘compassion’. With the power māyā, Varuṇa
performs the incredible activities some of which were already mentioned. On one
occasion he measures the earth, then covers the firmament with dark clouds but at
another time he makes the sky appear as a canopy of pleasant blue. He smashes the
dark-goblins with his illustrious feet of sunbeams and destroys all their magic wiles.

Varuṇa is extolled as the god of morality as he maintains, regulates and promotes

social etiquette by dint of māyā, the occult power he possesses. Varuṇa, the king of
the universe, the omniscient and omnipresent, is revered on account of his
sovereignty, by which trait he exceeds all other deities. In the Vedic literature, his
extreme concern is the morality of human beings. However, the superiority of
Varuṇa deteriorated in later times as seen in the post-Vedic texts where he is a mere
sea god40 or a god of the waters of the atmosphere and the firmament. Nevertheless,
in the Vedas his role as the protector of morality is singularly emphasized. A perusal
of Varuṇa hymns found in the Ṛgveda will clearly reveal that the underlying tone of

39 In old Bengali ‘mā’ means ‘illusion’ while ‘māyin’ denotes one who is artful or deceptive. Cf. Buck

(1949): 578.
40 For Varuṇa being called ‘Sindhupati’ or lord of the sea or rivers along with Mitra– ṚV. 7.64.2 (ā

rājānā maha ṛtasya gopā sindhupatī kṣatriyā yātamarvāk).

each and every verse addressed to him denotes one or more of the different mental
states of poets such as the utmost respect paid to his immutable ordinances, fear of
confession, the pain of nemesis that they experienced or are still experiencing,
sorrow of their own inability to avoid misdeeds due to negligence, their strong desire
to be free from punishments and their wish to win Varuṇa’s favour again, anxiety to
disclose their innocence and so on.

5. Ṛta, the Cosmic Order

What is emphatically mentioned along with the role of Varuṇa as the god of morality
is unarguably the ‘ṛta’ or the cosmic order41 which no being, divine or mortal, could
act against. Bearing the meaning ‘universal truth’, this word seems to date back as
most of the terms found in the earliest Vedic texts do, to the period of PIE, i.e., Proto
Indo-European language. The derivations of the root word which is still unknown to
us are found in Greek ‘avekṣat’ (?) and in Old Persian, as expounded in Avesta, ‘aa,
areta or arta’.42 German scholars also try to find equivalents to Ṛta in German
language too. H. Oldenberg (1915)43 prefers 'Ordnung' while B. Geiger (1916)44
suggests 'Recht' and H. Luders (1944)45 chooses 'wahrheit'. Sten Rodhe considers all
these and especially Abel Bergaigne's suggestion and then understands 'dharma' as
an equivalent to Ṛta in Sanskrit and ‘laws’ in English.46 As depicted in the Ṛgveda,
ṛta is the unshakable order, firm and constant of which the protector (ṛtasya gopā),
observer (khā ṛtasya) and promoter (ṛtāyu, ṛtavat) is Varuṇa, the monarch of the
universe.47 Agni or sacred fire is also introduced as the second protector of ṛta48 but
Varuṇa’s prominence is emphasized much more. His immutable ordinances
(vratāni)49 are charged with the spirit of this cosmic order. The common question
raised is, why Varuṇa deserves such veneration as the God of Morality though there
were many mighty gods whom the people praised at that time.

Varuṇa, the omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent god was the key force which
regularized the moral life of Ṛgvedic Āryans. Nothing clandestine could be done
unnoticed by Varuṇa as he completely knows all, sees and hears all that was done,
that is done and even that is to be done in the future. Awareness of these abilities of

41 J. N. Farqehar & H.D. Griswold (1923) The Religion of the Ṛgveda (Oxford): ‘Ṛta means order,
cosmic, ethical and ritualistic..’ : 126, ‘Ṛta…embraces both cosmic and ethical order…’ : 134.
42 Bloomfield (1908): 228. Cf. also F. Spiegel (1887) Die Arische Periode und ihre Zustände (Leipzig):

139, R. Zimmermann (1930) 'Asha in the Gāthās of the Avesta and Ṛta in the Ṛgveda' in Modi
Memorial Volume (Bombay): 414-417.
43 H. Oldenberg (1915) 'Zur Religion und Mythologie des Veda' Nachrichten von der Königlichen

Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (Berlin): 167.

44 B. Geiger (1916) Die Aməa Spəntas (Wien): 166.
45 H. Luders (1944) 'Die Magische Kraft der Wahrheit in Alten Indien' Zeitschrift der Deutschen

Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 98 (Leipzig): 3-5.

46 'The statement of Bergaigne remains true that dharman, dhāman, ṛta and vrata are used side by

side as expressions of a law that rules similarity in nature, in the sacrifice and in moral life…' S. Rodhe
(1946) Deliver Us from Evil (Lund): 143.
47 'Varuṇa is the guardian of Ṛta (cosmic order, Law, Truth, Reality) and as such the representative of

the static aspects of kingship, the enemy of falsehood, the punisher of sin, lord and upholder of the
Vratas (fixed and regular behaviour functions, observations)…' J. Gonda (1975) Vedic Literature
(Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas) in J. Gonda ed. A History of Indian Literature, Vol. 1 Fasc. 1
(Wiesbaden): 97.
Cf. H.P. Schmidt (1958) Vedīsh Vrata und Awestisch Urvta (Hamburg).
48 ṚV. 1.1.8 (gopāmṛtasya dīdiviṃ).
49 ṚV. 1.24.10.
Varuṇa deep-rooted in the minds of the Āryans caused them to refrain from evil.
Consequently, they composed emotional verses vivid in tone and hymns consisting of
a variety of rhapsodic, panegyric and sentimental streams of feeling. These are the
very hymns we basically depend on to comment on the Ṛgvedic culture,
philosophical and religious insights, political and social aspects etc. They are the
manifestations of the humble mind of the people at the time of the Ṛgveda filled with
surprise, terror, sorrow and the subtle mental states of that ilk. All the Varuṇa
hymns in the Ṛgveda are not confined to revealing only one of his aspects; each
hymn has its own identity with acute and considerable differences in form and
content, though the key tone of every hymn seems to be identical50. The facts we note
about Varuṇa through each hymn sung to him are not thus to be taken as dogmas or
permanent facts reiterated for emphasis throughout the whole Vedic literature. Each
hymn is, as Wordsworth declared51, a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings at a
certain moment of mental excitement with a literary elegance of its own. A voracious
reader meticulously reading Varuṇa-hymns in the Ṛgveda could understand that the
hymns on objects and phenomena which Vedic Āryans were surprised at were mixed
and, thus, it is somewhat difficult to categorize them into separate divisions on the
basis of the content thereof.

Varuṇa is entitled to a large number of attributive names in the Ṛgveda such as

‘samrāt’ or the universal monarch52, ‘svarāt’ or the self-dependant ruler53, ‘kṣatra,54
kṣatriya’ or king, ‘māyin’ or the upholder of the occult power alias māyā or the
crafty, ‘dhṛtavrata’ or the ordinances-bearer, ‘nītidhāra’ or the rules-bearer etc. On
his royalty or sovereignty the honorific epithets samrāt, svarāt and kṣatra are
ascribed while māyin, dhṛtavrata or nītidhāra are those emphasizing his role in
maintaining and promoting morality. ‘Pūtadakṣa’ or the one who has purified
thoughts, ‘sukratu’ or the great intellect are due to his admirable characteristics.
Furthermore, ‘vṛṣva’55 and ‘sindhupati’ or the lord of the ocean, are to be found in
connection with Varuṇa’s role in the post Vedic era.

6. Pāpa or Sin as a Debt

Morality in the Ṛgveda period was singularly maintained by Varuṇa as already

stated. The widely accepted opinion was that to be guilty means to commit a great sin
and Varuṇa surely knows it as nothing could be hidden from him. Since pāpa, or sin
in the general sense, has a long history in Vedic literature, it seems to be charged
with the sense that pāpa is the most severe sin from which Āryans tried to escape but
could not, and which they were afraid of. Anything wrong or against social etiquette,
done unwillingly or deliberately, was thence regarded a sin.

50 ‘There is in fact no hymn to Varuṇa in which the prayer for remission of sin or forgiveness of guilt

does not occur…’ McDonell (1897): 27. Cf. ṚV. 1.24; 2.28; 5.85; 7.86.
51 Wordsworth cites these words in the Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1798) revised by W. Wordsworth

and S. T. Coleridge.
52 ṚV. 5.85.1.S
53 How Varuṇa was ascribed ‘svarāt’ is as follows.

‘when Indra’s supreme position was firmly established he became samrāṭ, the universal monarch and
Varuṇa only svarāt or a self-dependant ruler, possessing only limited powers and jurisdiction…’
Chandradas (1925): 82. Cf. ṚV. 2.28.1; 2.82.2.
54 ṚV. 7.87.6.
55 ṚV. 5.63.3.
Sin, as theologically explained, appears religious56 though in the religion of the
Ṛgveda it is something much more beyond religious limitations. Thus, sin was the
most terrifying to Āryans as depicted in the hymns and it made those committing
sins regret and aware of the severity of their offences while directing the society to a
better path. The scholars remark on this matter that sin in the Vedic contexts
primarily bears a religious sense though charged with a complete ethical touch.

A perusal of Vedic hymns, especially those to Varuṇa would help to find the words
used to mean ‘sin’. One of those frequently found is ‘enaḥ’.
‘pṛcche tadeno varuṇa didṛkṣu’ 57
(O Varuṇa, I inquire what my sin is.)

‘āgaḥ’ is another term widely used but its origin was debated. The following
quotation provides an example as to how the term was used.
‘kimāga āsa varuṇa jyeṣṭaṃ’ 58
(O Varuṇa, what has been my great sin…?)

Regarding ‘āgaḥ’, E.W. Hopkins considers it to be older than ‘enaḥ’ whereas Rodhe
rejects Hopkin’s stance.59 However, the word ‘anāgāḥ’ or those devoid of sin is more
widely used than ‘anenāḥ’ of the same sense.60 For instance, one of the rare uses of
‘anenāh’ can be given.
‘ava tvānenā namasā tura iyāṃ’ 61
(Freed from sin, I quickly approach you with deep veneration.)

‘Drugdha’ and ‘anṛta’ are also equivalents to pāpa or sin in meaning and the
latter clearly shows in keeping with the laws of euphonic combinations as well, that
sin is nothing but transgressing ṛta, the cosmic order.62 Here, the prefix of negation
‘an-’ (typically na-), combines with ‘-ṛta’ as ‘an-ṛta’ to denote that pāpa is nothing
but the very transgression or the contradiction of the universal truth.63
‘ava drugdhāni pitryā sṛjā no’ 64
(May you free us from bonds inherited from our forefathers.)

56 ‘Sin’ has various definitions with emphasis on its nature, causes and results. Three of such
definitions are listed below.
‘Man sins when committing something forbidden by certain divine commandments. Sometimes the
word obtains a wider sense…Sin is a religious not a moralistic conception…’
Otto, (1932) Das Gefhl des berweltlichen (Mnchen): 83
‘Sin is a purely religious idea, having nothing to do with ethics but that by and by it is filled with
ethical content…’ Mensching, (1941) Gut and Böse im Völker (Leipzig): 41
‘Modern theology stresses that sin is met with as a power keeping man in captivity…Our conception of
sin may indicate something committed by man as well as something outside man, seizing him as an
enemy…’
Rodhe (1946): 136.
57 ṚV. 7.86.3.
58 ṚV. 7.86.4.
59 Rodhe (1946): 139.
60 ṚV. 1.24.15; 4.12.4.
61 ṚV.7.86.4.
62 Varuṇa is prayed to see (avapaśyan) satyānṛte or good and evil. ṚV. 7.49.3.
63 Mitra and Varuṇa are said to conquer Anṛta and keep to Ṛta. Cf. ṚV. 1.152.1.
64 ṚV. 7.86.5.
 ‘svapnaścanedanṛtasya prayotā’ 65
(Even a dream is provocative to falsehood)

In addition, ‘abhidudroha66’ and ‘kilbiṣa’, though not used as frequently as

‘enaḥ, āgaḥ’67, or ‘anṛta’ are also to be distinguished as giving the meaning, sin.

Sin considered ‘ṛṇa’ or a debt which an offender could never pay up is another facet
of morality at the time of the Ṛgveda which requires the special concern of a
researcher on ethics. The word ‘ṛṇa’ in the classical Sanskrit literature is used in a
narrowed sense than that used in the Vedic literature as in the latter it indicates two
literary senses, namely sin and debt. Nevertheless they sometimes denote the same
sense too and give an implied or suggested meaning. The poet of the Ṛgveda hymn
8.47, in the seventeenth verse, indicates both debts and conflicts due to indebtedness
by the word ‘ṛṇa’

‘Ṛṇavān’ or debtor in the Ṛgvedic context means one who is found guilty or one who
owes money to another as explained in the ‘hymn of the gambler’ (10.34).68 However,
it is of much importance that wherever the word ‘ṛṇa’ is used to denote the state of
indebtedness in the Ṛgveda it also emphasizes the sinfulness of being indebted.
Owing to somebody in any respect was thus considered committing sin. Not only
pecuniary debts but also debts of every sort are said to bear the complete sense ‘ṛṇa’.
Similarly, a debtor was a sinner and vice versa as depicted in the relevant hymns.
Vedic Āryans kneeled in supplication at the sovereignty of Varuṇa, the king of both
god and the mortal, with their humble words to get released from the irreplaceable
nemesis.

para ṛṇā sāvīradha matkṛtāni māhaṃ rājannanyakṛtena bhojaṃ 69

avyuṣṭā innu bhūyasīruṣāsa ā no jīvān varuṇa tāsu śādhi

A free English rendering of the above verse is as follows:

‘O venerable god, may you discharge me from the debts incurred by me, or for my
sake by others. May I not, O illustrious god, be dependant on the wealth earned by
others. Many are the morning that have, as it were, indeed not dawned, make us, O
venerable one, alive in them.’

As pecuniary debts (ṛṇa) could be paid up and a debtor is able to get released from
the bonds of indebtedness, sin (pāpa) could also be blotted out by expiation and a
sinner could gain Varuṇa’s favour to get the severity of his punishments reduced.
The only possible way to get released or to mitigate the severity of punishments one
suffers from was to seek Varuṇa’s favour. A number of hymns, in the form of
requests, confessions, laments and exculpations composed with heartrending words

65 ṚV. 7.86.6. ‘svapne kṛtairapi krmabhirbahūni pāpān jāyante kimu vaktavyaṃ jāgrati kṛtaiḥ

karmabhiḥ pāpānyutpadyanta iti’ – Sāyana.

66 ṚV. 7.89.4 (Sāyana - abhidrohaṃ apakārajātaṃ).
67 ṚV. 7.87.6 (Sāyana - āgaḥ aparādhaḥ).
68 ṚV. 10.34. 10 (ṛṇavā bibhyaddhanamicchamāno).
69 ṚV. 2.28.9.
show that one’s sin could be removed or expiated by assuaging the angered
Varuṇa.70

7. How Sin Occurs

The multiplicity of the words used to mean ‘sin’ clearly reveals how the conception of
sin, religious or ethical in nature, was deeply rooted in the Ṛgvedic society. Morality
was maintained and promoted by Varuṇa as expounded in the hymns. What Vedic
Āryans considered sin should also be examined in order to build a better image of
Varuṇa’s role in Ethics.

As we mentioned above, ṛta is the universal order and anṛta or sin is the
transgression thereof. Hence, disobeying ṛta was regarded as an act dragging Āryans
into serious sins. They were aware that to err is human71 but, failed to disbelieve that
Varuṇa knows all.

yastiṣṭhati carati yaśca vañcati yo nilāyaṃ carati yaḥ prataṅkaṃ

dvau saṃniṣadya yanmantrayete rājā tadveda varuṇastṛtīyaḥ 72

‘Whoso stands, goes about and whoso goes crookedly, whoso goes about hidden, who
defiantly what two, sitting down together, talk, king Varuṇa, as third knows that.’ 73

Therefore, even the mental peccadilloes could not be kept hidden from Varuṇa who
surely knows all done openly or secretly. As emphasized in the Ṛgveda, a human
being is never his master74 and to err is, thus, justified.75 Many nefarious deeds as
well as lapses make humans sinful not only through physical offences but also by
malevolent thoughts and one may be driven into committing sin. Murder76, extreme
indulgence in gambling, anger and liquor,77 deceiving especially at gambling,78
cursing, sins due to thoughtlessness, nightmares and many more mental and
physical activities of that sort were the causes that Āryans distinguished as being
sinful.79

Gambling with ‘akṣa’ or dice is seen as the most popular game among Āryans in the
Ṛgveda period as vividly depicted in one of the well-known hymns comprising
penitential verses, designated as the ‘Hymn of Gambler.’ The brownish (babhru)
vibhīdaka80 fruits with small hook-like thorns were widely used as dices and, as the
poet introduces them, they kindle the desire of people who gamble with them.81
Being dragged into the game, Āryans could not help getting drawn to gambling, as if
by the hooks of dice, even if they were much aware of the sinfulness of being addicted

70 A. Bergaigne, (1973) Vedic Religion According to the Hymns of the Ṛgveda Vol. III (V.G.
Paranjape’s tr.) (Poona): 169-170.
71 ṚV. 1.25.1; 7.89.5.
72 AV. 4.16.2.
73 Whitney’s Translation – Atharvaveda Saṃhitā Vol. I: 177.
74 ṚV. 2.28.6.
75 ṚV. 1.25.1; 7.89.5.
76 ṚV. 1.41.8.
77 ṚV. 7.86.5.
78 ṚV. 2.27.16; 2.29.5; 5.85.8.
79 ṚV. 7.86.5, 6.
80 Sāyana - vibhīdakaḥ dhyūtasādhano’kṣaḥ.
81 ṚV. 7.86.6; 10.34.1, 5, 7.
to dice. The incorrigible gambler is also sarcastically or contemptibly introduced as
‘sabhāsthāṇu’ or the pillars of the gambling house or the posts of the gambling table
because, like pillars supporting the roof, gamblers are willingly present at the place of
gambling from dawn to dusk. As beautifully expressed in Ṛgvedic hymns, the
gambler wants to get rid of his habit jeopardizing the lives of his ménage but knows
no way to avoid it. All that he could do is to repent and to confess to Varuṇa as
follows.

jāyā tapyate kitavasya hīnā mātā putrasya carataḥ kva svit

ṛṇavā bibhyaddhanamicchamāno’nyeṣāmastamupa naktameti 82

The gambler’s wife is left forlorn and wretched; the mother mourns for the son, who
wanders homeless involved in debt, in constant fear, hankering after wealth, he goes
forth by night unto the home of strangers.

striyaṃ dṛṣṭvāya kitavaṃ tatāpānyeṣāṃ jāyāṃ sukṛtañca yoniṃ

pūrvāhṇe aśvānyuyuje hi babhrūntso agnerante vṛṣalaṃ papāda 83

‘The gamester suffers when he observes the happy wife and well ordered home of
others. Yet, in the afternoon, he gets on the town-steeds and at night, the sinner lies
down near the fire.’

This despicable habit, a stigma to the noble Āryan tribe and etiquette was explicitly
considered a transgression of ṛta, Varuṇa’s cosmic order, and the gamblers were
necessarily sinners. Admittedly, the repentant and terror-stricken gambler has to
confess since Varuṇa, as the third among two, knows all and repels him in many
ways. He commits sin not only by dint of gambling but by deceiving others at the
game as well.84 This example explains well what a serious and culpable habit
gambling was in the time of the Ṛgveda and why Āryans had to implore Varuṇa to
get his anger assuaged.

Another deed highly considered offensive and deserving punishment was usury and
indebtedness.85 The debtors and even their forefathers succumbed to punishments
for committing this great sin.86 Hence Varuṇa is implored in the hymns to release
the sinners from suffering. Indulgence in drunkenness resembling that in gambling
was also regarded a severe sin according to the social norms at that period. In the
prayers to Varuṇa, the drunkards beseech him when they are penalized by the all-
knower to loosen his fetters. Being addicted to drunkenness the innocent become the
guilty unconsciously driven by felonious thoughts. Varuṇa observes whatever
humans do, right or wrong, honest or dishonest, speak or even think and, thus, no
one escapes his eye, as already mentioned. Then no matter how secretly one enjoys
an intoxicating drink, it is never a secret to Varuṇa, the omniscient. Therefore, all
having liquor in private or in a carouse are afraid alike of being subjected to Varuṇa’s
punishments which may pass from generation to generation.

82 ṚV. 10.34.10.
83 ṚV. 10.34.11.
84 ṚV. 5.81.4.
85 Sāyana comments here as follows.

'The passage is deserving of notice, indicating an advanced as well as a corrupt state of society. The
occurrence of debt, and severity of its pressure…' Ṛgveda Sāyanabhāṣya – Wilson's Translation.
86 ṚV. 2.28.9.
Adultery, considered a repulsive and sinful offence, was also among the most severe
crimes at the time of the Ṛgveda. Women’s hearts were declared to be out of
control,87 fickle88 and akin to those of jackals.89 An adulterous woman was
nicknamed ‘parāpuṃsā’ and was considered a sinner. In addition, ‘parivitti’ or the
act of the younger brother getting married before his elder brother, ‘bhrūṇahan’ (lit.
embryo-slayer, or - in modern usage – abortion,) are described in the Maitrayaṇī
Saṃhitā and the Atharvaveda as the most severe crimes. Sexual misconduct
encompassing incest and bestiality were severe enough to deserve punishments as
the culprits crack the structure of morality. Being guilty of both committed and
uncommitted crimes the confessors beseech Varuṇa seeking his favour to get
released.

The malignant forces tempting people to commit crimes and to become culprits
thereby were also identified.90 Some of these forces are ‘dveṣa’ or enmity, ‘sridh’ or
enemies, ‘rapas’ or physical weakness, ‘amīvā’ or diseases, ‘durmati’ or malignity,
‘aṃhas’ or distress, ‘amati’ or want, and ‘durita’ or disaster. Furthermore, according
to the opinion of the Āryan, there were divine forces provoking them to anger, lust
etc. and then to commit sins which they wanted to refrain from. ‘Anenaḥ’ or the god
devoid of sins, Varuṇa, was introduced by poets because except him all others
commit crimes. He is implored for liberation by ‘enasvatāḥ’ or sinners.

It is also noteworthy that, the Āryans are sometimes depicted in the Ṛgveda as those
inveighing Varuṇa into favouring them since they convince why Varuṇa should not
penalize them. Those who commit nefarious deeds unintentionally due to
‘kratvadīnatā’ (or the poverty of will-power) implore Varuṇa in supplication to be
compassionate enough to release them from punishments.

‘yat kiṃ cedaṃ varuṇa daivye jane’bhidrohaṃ manuṣyāścarāmasi acittī 91

yat tava dharmā yuyopima mā nas tasmād enaso deva rīriśaḥ’ 92

‘Whatever offence we men commit against divine beings, and whichever your laws we
violate through ignorance, may you not, O Lord, be harsh to us on account of that
iniquity.’

Such extreme consciousness of one’s own conduct kept Aryans vigilant because even
nightmares were considered as causes of sin93 according to the Ṛgvedic hymns. They
were attentive to the core and perhaps this was the very reason why they often had
been careful to refrain from anything sinful even by mistake. Further, Āryans
excessively succumbed to what was believed dogmatic and this is an exclusive
example for it. This extremity is often expounded in almost all of the theistic religious
contexts where an almighty omniscient god is believed to be. As a consequence,
nobody is said to be free from Varuṇa’s observation even though the god was not so

87 ṚV. 8.33.17.
88 ṚV. 10.95.15.
89 ṚV. 10.95.16.
90 ṚV. 8.18.
91 Sāyana – acittī acityāñjānena.
92 ṚV. 7.89.5.
93 ‘The sin may have been committed even in sleep. For this eventuality we may think of dreams in

which the poet has played an evil part and of nightly

pollutions…’ Rodhe (1946): 141.
in reality. Āryans who got embarrassed were forced to confess and seek Varuṇa’s
favour as it really mattered for freedom.

The fact that nobody becomes a culprit due to his own will or ‘svadakṣa’ but by
means of being driven by an external force, as cited above, passion, anger, lust or
ignorance etc.94 or being tempted by malignant spirits, is much stressed in order to
justify Aryans’ inability to refrain from committing sins. Admittedly, there is no trace
of the conception in the Ṛgvedic hymns that Varuṇa could easily be inveigled into
forgiving sinners and his wrath could be easily assuaged by mere praying. The sinner
did know that he has been driven by some external forces of which Varuṇa is the
conductor and which Aryans could not stand against.95 He, thus, makes his mind not
to yield to such forces again and swears he would no longer go wrong but, he is by no
means able to be guiltless. Repenting about what happened due to poor will-power or
by another driving force he blatantly prays for Varuṇa’s favour.96

However, in some hymns, though rare in number, there are justifications, of which
one excerpt is cited below. It tells us why Varuṇa should forgive a sinner and remove
or lessen the harsh punishments already implemented.

‘na sa svo dakṣo varuṇa dhrutiḥ sā surā manyurvibhīdako acittiḥ

asti jyāyān kanīyasa upāre svapnaścanedanṛtasya prayotā’ 97

Sāyana, the great commentator of Ṛgveda, emphasizes that here jyāyān (lit.
seniors) means the god who received prayers, most probably Varuṇa, while kanīyas
(lit. juniors) was interpreted as the Āryan poets composing the hymn (upāre upāgate
nīyantṛtvena sthitaḥ).98 Here is the English rendering of the complete verse
concerned.

‘O virtuous Lord, it is not our own choice, but our hard environments that betray us.
It is the vice of intoxication, wrath, gambling and carelessness. And again it is the
handicap of the ill-company of the elder with the young. Even a dream is provocative
to falsehood.’

What is implied here, as illustrated in the Sāyana’s commentary, is that when the
senior, Varuṇa in this context, compels the juniors or Āryans to crimes or sins, the

94 Sāyana – ‘he varuṇa, svaḥ svo dakṣaḥ puruṣasya svabhūtaṃ tadbalaṃ pāpapravṛttau kāraṇaṃ

na bhavati, kiṃ tarhi dhrutiḥ sthirā utpatti samaya eva nirmitā daivagatih kāraṇaṃ’.
95 ‘To begin with, Vasiṣṭha tried to explain away his sins. In a stanza (vii.86.6), which gives one of the

finest expressions to a sinner’s psychology, Vasiṣṭha argued that it was not his own free will (svaḥ
dakṣaḥ) which was at the bottom of his moral lapses – his actions were by no means deliberate
(acittiḥ). It was, verily, on account of destiny (dhrutiḥ) or passion (manyuḥ) or evil influence that he
became a sinner…’
R. N. Dandekar, (1970) 'Varuṇa, Vasiṣṭha and Bhakti' in J. Tilakasiri ed. Añjali, O. H. De A.
Wijesekara Felicitation Volume (Peradeniya): 78-80.
96 Ibid. 78-79.
97 ṚV. 7.86.6.
98 'The passage would rather mean, a senior person (jyāyān) is (always) there to mislead (upāre) the

junior (kanīyasaḥ), or a senior person is (often) involved (asti) in the seduction of the junior…'
Dandekar (1970): 81.
‘Sāyana is inconsistent when he says that the senior God impels the junior soul to commit sins on the
basis of the Kauṣītakī text - eṣa hyevāsādhu karmakārayati ta yamadho ninīṣate – 3.8’ Satyaprakāś
and Vidyalankar trs. - Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, Vol. VIII: 2768.
latter could do nothing but to succumb to them. This attitude, though not mentioned
obviously in the Ṛgvedic hymns, reveals that the sinners hoped that Varuṇa would
be impelled to sympathize with them and expiate the severity of the punishments if
he does not cancel them. Nevertheless, they never dared to profane Varuṇa’s
ordinances as this could be taken as a sheer example of Āryans’ sacrilege.

8. Varuṇa’s Fetters

It is often explained in the Vedic literature, where the punishments set by Varuṇa are
described, that Varuṇa binds culprits or sinners with his fetters or noose called
‘pāśa’.99 Being symbolized, Varuṇa’s pāśa is frequently cited in the hymns100 and it
also represents Varuṇa’s system of punishing. As depicted in literature, Varuṇa is a
peaceful and well-mannered god compared to dipsomaniac Indra and such other
divinities. Further, he does not have many deadly weapons except the noose or
fetters, even if the Aryans considered it to be such a weapon.101 The Atharvaveda also
mentions that Varuṇa has hundred fetters.102 How terrifying ‘mṛtyapāśa’ or the
noose of death was, is vividly described in the hymns.

ava drugdhāni pitryā sṛjā no’va yā vayaṃ cakṛmā tanūbhiḥ

ava rājan paśutṛpaṃ na tāyuṃ103 sṛjā vatsaṃ na dāmno vasiṣṭhaṃ 104

‘May you free us from bonds, inherited from our forefathers, and from those, for
which we are ourselves responsible. O sovereign Lord, liberate me, the most
celebrated and penancing self, from my animal passions, like a calf set free from its
tether.’105

The scholars in Vedic mythology and theology tend to compare the snare of the king
of gods, Varuṇa, with the same weapon of other deities such as Śiva, Devī, Kālī,
Hanumān, Ganeśa, Yama and Bhairava.106 The symbolic use of pāśā is also
identified as relating to Varuṇa’s role especially in the post Vedic literature since he
is represented there as a god of the ocean.107 Varuṇa’s pāśa, or as introduced with
many equivalent terms, dāman108, raśanā, (though especially and often mentioned
in connection with Yama) paḍbīśa109 or mṛtyapāśa, is a powerful weapon because it
causes much painful suffering. The extreme power of this ‘weapon’ is often
highlighted with many references in the classical Sanskrit literature. In the

99 In Sanskrit: a divine weapon that terrified people of the time.

100 ṚV.1.25; 5.16; 5.25; 7.86; Varuṇa's pāśa as a simplex, ṚV. 7.24.15; 7.25.21; 7.65.3; 7.88.7
101 Deshmukh (1933): 214.
102 AV. 4.16.7 Śatena pāśairabhi dhehi Varuṇainaṃ mā te mocyanṛtavāṅ nṛcakṣaḥ

'With hundred fetters, O Varuṇa, do thou bridle him, let not the speaker of untruth escape thee, O
men watcher…' W. D. Whitney tr. (1962) Atharvaveda Saṃhitā, vol. I (Delhi): 178.
103 Sāyana’s interpretation seems rather different. ‘paśutṛpaṃ na tāyuṃ stainyaṃ-prāyaścittaṃ

kṛtvavasāne ghāsādibhiḥ tarpayitāraṃ stenamiva (like a thief nourishing a stolen animal) .

104 ṚV. 7.86.5
105 Here, there are two comparisons in this verse – Cf. Satyaprakāś and Vidyankar's translation : 27-68
106 In the ṚV. 10.59.4; 10.76.4; ŚB. 7.2.1.15 the pāśa is said to be Nairṛta or belonging to Nirṛti, the

goddess of destruction and death. That is, in other words, a deadly weapon.
107 The pāśa, pāsa or Varuṇapāśa which is in his hand has been surmised to be emblematical of the

sea encircling the earth is often seen in the hand of other deities…’ E. Moor, (1810) Srī Sarva Deva
Sabhā (The Hindu Pantheon) (London): 274.
108 ṚV. 7.86.5
109 ṚV. 10.97.16; AV. 6.96.2; 7.112.2
Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā,110 Varuṇa's pāśa is praised or revered when it is loosened (vi-
cṛtta, prati-asta). There are references to varuṇapāśa too among the defensive
weapons of the deities in the Hindu pantheon such as dharmāyudha, kālāyudha, the
cakra of Viṣṇu, Vajra of Indra, the lance of Śiva etc.111 The statues which illustrate
Varuṇa as a god of waters in the later periods were often created with his pāśa in the
left hand. For instance, in the Brahmeśvara temple at Bhuvaneśvara (11th century
AD), there is a statue of Varuṇa as an anthropomorphic representation consisting of
a complete standing human figure with a short loincloth and ornaments on, and in
the famous ‘tivaṅka’ posture. In his left hand there is a pāśa while the right hand
shows the gesture or mudrā called ‘varada’ (lit. boon-giving).

9. The Divine Wrath

The poet gets to know that he was already subjected to Varuṇa’s wrath when he
suffers from punishments; he trembles with fear of Varuṇa, though the guilt was
neither of his own nor has been done willingly. Nevertheless, he is not relieved until
he is freed from Varuṇa’s fetters. Prayers do not shiver with fear of every god in the
religion of the Ṛgveda, but definitely do in the case of Varuṇa, the most terrifying
god to sinners comparable to Jehovah in the Old Testament. In the 25th hymn of the
first maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda the prayer beseeches Varuṇa to release him from the
divine wrath like a charioteer unyoking a yoked horse. This simile finely illustrates
the literary merits of the very verse. Until a yoked horse, bound one, is unyoked by
somebody else, but not by itself, it is completely obliged to carry out the commands
of the charioteer. Those subject to divine wrath, just as yoked horses, are never freed
till Varuṇa himself decides to release them. Admittedly, Varuṇa's wrath is roused by
the infringement of his ordinances (vratāni) and only Varuṇa is capable to remove
or lessen the punishments caused by him.

Furthermore, another highlighted fact regarding the aftermath of being guilty and
being subject to Varuṇa’s wrath is that sinful prayers were so scared of Varuṇa that
they dare not beseech him directly for a favour. The sinful, in lieu of imploring
Varuṇa, try to inform him of their innocence through another divinity, most
frequently, Sūrya (the Sun-god, acquainted with Mitra and Aditi, two deities cited
almost often with Sūrya).112 The sinful Āryans appear here shivering with terror for
they fail to verbalize their confession or guiltlessness in front of wrathful Varuṇa or
humbly believe in that ‘our words would not be admitted but the words of Sūrya or
of a deity of that ilk surely would’. Because Varuṇa is omniscient and omnipresent,
almost no one, as evident in the hymns, was courageous enough to lie or keep even
one’s own peccadilloes hidden. What a prayer could do after he identified himself to
be guilty and was caught up in the divine wrath was to confess directly to Varuṇa113
or to request Savitṛ or Sūrya, to inform his guiltlessness to Varuṇa on his behalf. As
already mentioned, since the Sun was identified as the eye of Varuṇa he becomes
omniscient and was believed to observe whatever human beings and other creatures

110 MS. 4.8.5

111 The great sage Viśvāmitra donates a plethora of weapons to Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa. There,
Varuṇapāśa is also mentioned. Cf. for further details, Moor (1810): 274-276.
112 Bergaigne (1973): 174.
113 Śunaḥśepa implores Varuṇa for getting the fetters loosened. ṚV. 1.24.12,13,15: 'May he to whom

the fettered Śunaḥśepa prayed, king Varuṇa, deliver (mumoktu) us. Bound to three pillars the seized
Śunaḥśepa prayed to the Āditya. May king Varuṇa, wise, never deceived, deliver (avasasṛjyāt) him,
loosen (vi-mumoktu) the bonds (pāśa)...'
do in all places. Elsewhere,114 the divine elixir, Soma, and Rudra are also implored to
deliver (ava-syatam/muñcatam) sinners from sin and to loosen Varuṇa's fetters.

10. Consequences of Being Sinful

Given that the angered Varuṇa punishes the guilty, the consequences of sin had to be
distinguished from the natural and causal disasters the Āryans also had to encounter.
There were, as the Ṛgvedic hymns disclose, two salient punishments which the sinful
were subjected to and afraid of. One is the physical penalty of disease or death while
the other is the loss of fellowship with holy Varuṇa. The first shows clearly that the
sinful will undergo worldly penalties and the latter has to be identified as a
punishment causing the first and dragging the sinner into suffering in his supra-
mundane life too.

All Āryans seem desirous to keep the fellowship with Varuṇa unimpaired. Thus those
spending peaceful moral lives protecting the established social etiquette, especially
those not transgressing the cosmic order or ṛta would enjoy the favour of Varuṇa
and have indomitable fellowship, an ineffable boon an Aryan could ever win. As
Griswold and Farquhar correctly identified, there are twofold sub-categories in this
particular fellowship:115

1. The friendship a believer (bhakta in Sanskrit) could maintain when he was

in the vessel with Varuṇa amidst sea waves.
2. The boon a believer wins of entering the thousand-gated mansion of the
god without any prior permission, being invited by Varuṇa.

According to the beliefs of the time of the Ṛgveda, the transgressors of ṛta could win
none of the above favours. One maintains the fellowship with Varuṇa, the king of the
universe, as long as he does not violate Varuṇa’s ordinances or ‘vratāni’. If, in any
circumstance, he fails to keep pace with the cosmic order or goes against it, he surely
loses the fellowship with Varuṇa which would offend Varuṇa. Thus, one has no
freedom unless he confesses and implores Varuṇa to be merciful to him.

‘uta svayā tanvā saṃvade tat kadā nvantar varuṇe bhuvāni

kim me havyamahṛṇāno juṣeta kadā mṛḷīkaṃ sumanā abhi khyam’ 116

And I, with my own body, ask ‘when shall I be one in him, in my Lord’. Would he ever
accept my dedicated offerings? Also ‘when shall I, through the ecstasy of joy
experience his gracious presence before me?’

Vasiṣṭha, the poet of the above stanza, having lost the fellowship with Varuṇa
mourns for it and shows a great desire to regain Varuṇa’s favour in this very life.

This ban, as Griswold and Farquhar identified, was also considered severe and is
clearly shown in the following couplet. The English rendering from which however
the tone of the Sanskrit original could not be acquired is also given here.

114 ṚV. 6.74.3-4, Cf. Rodhe (1946): 38.

115 Farquhar and Griswold (1923): 118.
116 ṚV. 7.86.2
kva tyāni nau sakhyā babhūvuḥ sacāvahe yadavṛkam purā cit
bṛhantam mānaṃ varuṇa svadhāvaḥ sahasradvāraṃ jagamā gṛhaṃ te 117

What has become of our remote friendship? When without enmity, shall we again
walk together? Let us preserve our relations unimpaired as before. O self-sustained
venerable Lord, may I enter your lofty house, which has a thousand portals. 118

Introducing the self as the 'friendly chanter' (stotāraṃ sakhāyaṃ)119 and stricken
with punishments he promises to keep to the cosmic order and describes what he
would do in return to Varuṇa if released from sufferings, i.e., to serve him (7.86.7)
like a slave, to revere him (7.86.4) and so forth. To win the fellowship or ‘sāyujyatā’
is the only goal of the sinful (kadā mṛḷīkaṃ sumanā abhikyaṃ).

Among the physical penalties a sinner had to undergo, diseases and death were
prominent. The guilty besought Varuṇa for freedom from those penalties which were
also caused by the divine wrath. Varuṇa brutally punishes the sinful with epidemic
and endemic diseases and death as just a reminder of what they have committed.120
The types of diseases expounded in Vedic literature vary in form, cause, symptoms as
well as effects and many of them are described in detail in the Atharvaveda.121 Given
the diseases believed to be caused by Varuṇa’s wrath, many similarities can be found
between the symptoms or nature of diseases and the imagined physical nature of the
deities or spirits who are believed to cause them. The sick pray for recuperation to
those deities and spirits. Thus, the Sun glowing with yellowish rays in the morning
and evening was requested to remove the disease ‘harimāṇa’ (or jaundice)122 and for
recovery from ‘jalodara’ (or dropsy) Aryans tended to pray to Varuṇa or the god of
the waters.123 In the Aitareya Bṛāhmaṇa, Varuṇa is said to seize Aikṣvāka so that
his belly swells.124 Admittedly, Varuṇa is called 'arpayitṛ' [or one who inflicts
(diseases)] and thus, this title suits him well in the context of the Ṛgveda. Punishing
the guilty by means of diseases seems a characteristic of Varuṇa and those suffering
from diseases had no way but to beseech him for recuperation. It is, therefore,
evident that Varuṇa was believed to have the power not only to cause diseases but
also to heal the sick. The sufferers request Varuṇa to be compassionate enough to
make them recuperate from the sickness with which they have been punished and
they evidently knew that Varuṇa is able to and surely will do so.125 Then sinners, who
have not yet succumbed to disease, want Varuṇa not to cause dropsy and subsequent
death but to offer remission from his deadly fetters or noose.126 As one might become
guilty by the mean and wicked deeds known and unknown to him, he has, when
suffering from painful effects of being sinful, to beg forgiveness for both.

117 ṚV. 7.88.5

118 Farquhar and Griswold, (1923): 124
119 ṚV. 7.86.4; 7.88.5,6
120 ṚV. 1.24.15; 1.25.11; 7.88.7, 7.89.3 etc.
121 'Harimāṇa, Arṇava, Yakṣma' are some diseases often found in the Ṛgvedic hymns while, except

these 'Jvara, Grāhi' and many more are cited in the Atharvaveda.
122 ṚV. 1.50.11.
123 AV. 1.10.3.
124 AB. 7.15.
125 ṚV. 1.24.9; 2.28.7; 7.88.1
126 Rodhe illustrates how a 'Jalodara' patient explains his sufferings as explained in the hymn. 'Thirst

found thy singer when he stood in the midst of waters. Be gracious, mighty lord and spare…'
Cf. ṚV. 7.85.4. Rodhe (1946): 73-74.
Varuṇa as depicted vividly in the Ṛgveda hymns was believed to know soothing
remedies for those who have succumbed to the very diseases inflicted by him. The
dropsy-tormented Āryans implore no one else but Varuṇa as they know that Varuṇa
would be merciful enough to cure them again. An excerpt from Vasiṣṭha’s lament
shows this.

pṛcche tadeno varuṇa didṛkṣūpo emi cikituṣo vipṛccham’ 127

samānaminme kavayaścidāhurayaṃ ha tubhyaṃ varuṇo hṛṇīte

Desirous of beholding you, O venerable Lord, I inquire what my sin is. I go to the
wise in quest of and to ask their advice; all the sages, verily, say to me the same ‘this
Lord, verily, is displeased with you’

Having heard from the wise, that he was punished by the angered Varuṇa for his
guilt, Vasiṣṭha begs Varuṇa not to slay him (yatstotāraṃ jighāṃsasi sakhāyam).128
Here, ‘jighāṃsasi’, lit. ‘Do thou kill (me)?’ discloses the psychology of the fear-
stricken sinner, Vasiṣṭha, through the imploring tone of his lament. He promises to
serve Varuṇa if he rescues him.129 The life after death in the nether world which is
full of horrifying experiences, as believed by Vedic people, seems to depend on what
they did in this world, though, whether the conception of Karma had already
developed at that time still remains uncertain.

Aryans in the Ṛgvedic era were extremely afraid of the death caused by Varuṇa as a
form of revenge or reminder of their sins. This fear induced them to refer to death
with some euphemistic terms and phrases averting their minds from terrifying
thoughts about death. ‘Mṛnmayagṛha’ or the house of clay was one of such
euphemistic terms to denote death for which scholars assume the following
meanings.

1. The urn made of clay in which the ashes remained after the incineration of
a dead body are placed.
2. The clay container to which the bones of the dead are inserted at the time
of burial.
3. The earth introduced as the abode of the dead
4. Varuṇa’s mansion which Vasiṣṭha once entered.
5. The human body made of fivefold elements, i.e., terrestrial, aqueous,
igneous, gaseous and ethereal.
6. The temple of gold dedicated to Varuṇa (su śobhanaṃ
suvarṇamayameva tvadīyaṃ gṛhaṃ prāpnuvāti – Sāyana’s
commentary)

This place fearfully refused to go to, the Mṛnmayagṛha, may thus be a metaphor of
death viewed from different dimensions as cited above.130 Varuṇa was not the god of

127 ṚV. 7.86.3

128 ṚV. 7.86.4
129 'He wishes to serve Varuṇa in order to become free from sin, not to be free from sin in order to

serve Varuṇa…The evil that sleep does not avert, may be the source of the tradition that Vasiṣṭha
composed this hymn while wandering in a dream (or in his sleep)…' W. D. O' Flaherty (1981) Varuṇa
Provoked to Anger - Ṛgveda, An Anthology (London): 213
130 ṚV. 7.89.1,2.

Cf. O' Flaherty (1981): 215.

death as identified by Aryans but it was the goddess Nirṛti whom the sinful beseech
Varuṇa to destroy or not to send them to.131 Nirṛti is introduced as a goddess with
terrifying characteristics and having connections with the nether world and directing
sinners to painful death.

The two types of punishments by Varuṇa, as cited above, could be examined in the
light of the religious and cultural atmosphere in the Ṛgveda period. As Weber says
regarding the chronology of Sanskrit literature,132 fixing a definite chronology to
Ṛgveda period is rather impossible or problematic. The earlier period of the Vedic
culture was not an age of distinguished intellectuals or those with matured wisdom
as we can roughly surmise.

Aryans, having entered, through the Khyber Pass to the north eastern India, as we
can presume from the facts in the Ṛgveda, gradually herded into the central India as
herdsmen and, finally, settled in Punjab (lit. five waters, or the region enriched by
rivers). At the very outset, even before they came to India, they were first surprised at
the exciting natural phenomena such as thunder, fire or rain and began to believe in
the superhuman powers they possessed. The anthropomorphism of the natural
phenomena followed that belief as a subsequence thereof. Finding new lands and
encountering various hardships including battles with non-Aryans, indigenous
people, floods, droughts and epidemic diseases, the early Aryans slowly but firmly
identified the need of being guided and sheltered by omnipotent superhuman
spirit/s. Hence we have in the Ṛgveda, thoughts of those who did not have stoic
minds to endure the harshness of their lives, the oldest collection of sensational
human thoughts in the orient. We cannot merely discard them as immature or
fatuous compositions of the early dwellers in India because the Ṛgvedic hymns
informatively illustrate very sophisticated thoughts throughout the Ṛgveda. The
spontaneous overflow of emotions in the hearts of the people peeping out from the
Ṛgveda has to be highly distinguished from the deliberate versifications in the later
periods of Sanskrit literature. Āryans of the earlier ages succumbed to acute diseases
and subsequent sudden deaths because of the hardships they encountered in their
careers and also natural causes like malpractices of food habits, genetic problems or
natural phenomena. If biologically considered, their diagnosis was quite different. It
was widely accepted that all disasters are caused by Varuṇa angered by Aryans'
offences. Varuṇa's wrath was upon the sinful, as they believed, because they had
transgressed his cosmic order, ṛta and spoiled the morality and social etiquette. Thus
there was no other rescuer but almighty Varuṇa for the sinful and they had to
beseech him confessing and begging for forgiveness. As depicted in the Ṛgvedic
hymns to Varuṇa, some, like Vasiṣṭha, requested Varuṇa to disclose what guilt they
committed, while another confessed explaining why they were impelled to commit
the sin or begged to know the possible ways to get rid of the disaster they had already
encountered.

131 Nirṛti and Mṛtyu are both referred to as death but whether both are equivalent conceptions

requires further research. Cf. ṚV. 1.24.9; 10.59.4; 10.76.4.

132 ‘But while we are thus justified in assuming a high antiquity for Indian literature, on external

geographical grounds, as well as on internal evidence, connected with the history of Hindu religion,
the case is sufficiently unsatisfactory, when we come to look for definite chronological data. We must
reconcile ourselves to the fact that any such search will, as a general rule, be absolutely fruitless…’ A.
Weber, (1914) The History of Indian Literature (John Mann and Theodor Zachariae trs.) (London):
6-7.
11. Winners of Varuṇa's Favour

As the Ṛgveda depicts, Varuṇa was compelled to punish only the guilty and was
introduced as a noble and elevated godhead133 though some critics do not completely
agree with this fact. Especially in the Brāhmaṇa literature Varuṇa plays the role of
the terrifying and malignant deity at whose wrath the prayers shiver with fear.134
Despite the fact that the angered Varuṇa penalizes the guilty, he rewards those
maintaining his ṛta as follows.

1. Those not transgressing Varuṇa's ordinances would receive his

compassion, be encouraged and rewarded to continue maintaining ṛta.
(1.28.2; 7.86.2 etc.)
2. Varuṇa is said to have thousand boons for the guiltless. (7.88.1 etc.)
3. People's noble thoughts are safeguarded by Varuṇa from being spoiled.
(8.41.4 etc.)
4. Varuṇa vouchsafes security and self-confidence to those maintaining ṛta
properly and continuously. (2.28.3; 7.88.6; 8.42.2 etc.)
5. He removes threats and fears, rescues his followers from thieves, wild
wolves and even from nightmares. (2.28.10 etc.)
6. Varuṇa offers gifts of prosperity to his hymn-chanters. (2.28.11 etc.)

In the 86th hymn of the seventh Maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda, there is an interesting
conglomeration of vivid emotions and ideas of the prayer that clearly demonstrates
how Vasiṣṭha received rewards by winning Varuṇa's favour. There 'mīḷhuṣe' (the
dative singular of 'mīḍhvāṃs', lit. one who rewards) or 'to him who rewards' is of
much importance as described below. The word 'mīḷhuṣe' and the phrase 'gṛtsaṃ
rāyai kavitāro junāti' are the perfect examples of Vasiṣṭha's allusion that he is to be
rewarded and he could get punishments removed. The desire to get free from all sins
and to get rewarded has added a grace to the stanza and to the complete hymn as
well. Here, Vasiṣṭha appears to ask directly for favours.

ayaṃ su tubhyaṃ varuṇa svadhāvo hṛdi stoma upaśritaścidastu

śaṃ naḥ kṣeme śamu yoge no astu yūyaṃ pāta svastibhiḥ sadā naḥ 135

May this adoration, O self-sustained Lord, be heartily appreciated. May we succeed

in retaining what we have earned and be able to acquire more through your grace,
and may you (with all your divine powers) cherish us with blessings.

Having been rewarded, Vasiṣṭha ascended to the respectful position of a sage136 and
had the sanction of entering Varuṇa's thousand-gated mansion as he wishes and to
share some mysterious experiences together with him.137

133'The relation to law and justice dominates even in the texts speaking of his benevolence, and this
feature is the main trait of Varuṇa, uniting the various aspects of him…' Rodhe (1946): 65.
'Varuṇa is ethically so exalted that because there is hardly a hymn of his which does not contain some
reference to sin and its remission…' Farquhar and Griswold (1923): 131.
134 For references to Vedic texts speaking of Varuṇa as a dark and terrifying god, ŚB. 4.4.5.11;

12.7.2.17, Cf. Meyer (1937) Vol. III: 205-210. Varuṇa's association with brightly flaming fire is said to
indicate the violent and destructive sides of his nature. Cf. ŚB. 4.4.5.10, TS. 6.4.2.3.
135 ṚV. 7.86.8.
136 ṚV. 7.88.4 (ṛṣiṃ cakāra svapā mahobhiḥ). Cf. Dandekar (1970): 79-80.
137 ṚV. 7.88.1,3,5.
12. How to Win Varuṇa's Favour

Having transgressed the everlasting and self-governing cosmic order deliberately or

not, sinners forward heartrending requests to Varuṇa seeking his favour in many
ways. The major tactics they used for that purpose can be listed as follows.138

1. To imply, though Varuṇa does know the truth, that the prayer does not
know what the sins he committed are and is anxious to know them.
(7.86.3-4 etc.)
2. To confess directly to Varuṇa or to persuade another deity to do so
instead. (7.86.6; 7.88.6; 7.89.3 etc.)
3. To be highly desirous to get the poet's offences justified. (1.24.15; 7.87.7
etc.)
4. To implore Varuṇa to expiate or remove the punishments the poet has
already succumbed to. (1.24.9-11,15; 1.25.1-2; 2.28. 5-7,9; 7.86.5; 7.88.6;
7.89.1-5 etc.)
5. To mention the poet's virtuous responses in return if freed. (7.86.4,7 etc.)
6. To offer oblations in order to please Varuṇa (1.24.14 etc.)
7. To chant panegyric songs. (1.25.3-4 etc.)

It is noteworthy here that all these were not practiced individually but together to be
freed from sins, punishments and sufferings, as suggested in the hymns. To err, and
in a broader but religious sense within the Vedic literary contexts to sin, is human.
Aryans were, as they themselves thought, liable to get punished by Varuṇa for their
commitments of sins.

Even peccadilloes were highly considered sinful and offensive. Varuṇa was also
involved in daily activities though some of them were done as secretly as possible as
discussed earlier. Here, Varuṇa could be identified not only as a godhead that the
guilty beseeched for freedom but also as a guardian or a well-wisher. Varuṇa,
implored at funeral ceremonies, was also requested to grant prosperity139,
happiness140, protection141 and blessings in marital occasions too. Then the newly
wedded couple implored Varuṇa to expel wicked spirits and accidental death. In
front of Agni or the holy fire, brought with respect from the bride's house and
kindled again at the groom's place, the couple was duly blessed with charming hymns
to Varuṇa. A sample reads as follows.

‘May Agni, foremost of the gods, come, may he free and save her offspring from the
cords of death. When Agni makes her know no sorrow for loss of progeny, May
Varuṇa acquiesce, Be ye, Agni and Varuṇa be propitious…’ 142

'Varuṇapraghāsas', (lit. varuṇa-devouring), another rite is also mentioned with the

citation of Varuṇa's name, even though much about it is unknown.143 Further, in war

138 Farquhar and Griswold (1923): 129.

139 ṚV. 7.65.2.
140 ṚV. 7.35.4.
141 ṚV. 5.62.9; 6.67.2,11; 7.52.2; 5.64.1; 7.5.1; 7.60.12; 7.61.6; 10.132.2.
142 ṚV. 10.85.25. Cf. Chandradas (1925): 383.
preparations too, along with Indra (the illustriously heroic god in the Ṛgveda) the
omniscient and omnipotent Varuṇa was requested to encourage and secure the
battalions.144 The dual gods 'indravaruṇau' (or Indra and Varuṇa) implored on the
eve of the battle day at warfare were believed to guide the soldiers properly and with
the blessings of these gods soldiers could cultivate courage and valorous thoughts
within themselves.145

Students were also expected to receive Varuṇa's blessings to pursue their studies
vigorously and meticulously while Varuṇa's intellectual advice (śikṣan) kept them
sharp.146 There, Varuṇa has been considered an elevated and wise god, though his
clairvoyance, clairaudience147 and, in short, omniscience is much emphasized
throughout the Vedic literature.

In the later times, especially after the Ṛgveda period, the magnanimity of Varuṇa as
the protector and promoter of morality seems to have decreased whereas his
connection with water became gradually prominent. In the perilous seas, 'paṇi' or
sea merchants were reported to be guided and protected by Varuṇa as he was at that
time singularly distinguished as a god of the ocean, being well aware of the behavior
patterns of all celestial objects and the wind. As is clear in the Vedic literature, from
the beginning to the end, it seems that nobody dared disregard Varuṇa's presence
and importance except some impious sages in the areas such as 'Nema' within the
region of Saptasindhu or seven rivers148 though even they paid due respect to him.

The transfiguration of Varuṇa, though his anthropomorphic characteristics

compared to those of other gods like Indra and Agni are not very clear, shows several
stages of development also emphasizing how Aryans formed a figure of a deity
according to their beliefs, interests and goals of life. It is evident that morality and
Varuṇa, at the time of the Ṛgveda, were two inseparable conceptions reciprocally
nourished and to which people paid their special attention. The Vedic society can
similarly be distinguished as a melting-pot which acutely and vividly varied in
moralistic ideas and concepts.

143 It does not concern ritual transgression but sins committed in social life. VS. 3. 44-47, ŚB. 2.5.2.20
Monier Williams explains it thus. ‘the second of periodical oblations offered at the full moon of
Āṣāḍha for obtaining exemption from Varuṇa's snares (so called from eating barley in honour of the
god Varuṇa)’
M. Williams ed., (1899) A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford): 921.
144 ṚV. 7.83.2.
145 Cf. ṚV. 7.83.3-5, 5.35.6-7, 7.27.1.
146 A rendering of one of the stanzas on Varuṇa's role cited above can be given here. 'The cow (speech)

has thrice seven appellations the wise and intelligent Varuṇa, giving instruction to me, his worthy
disciple, has declared the mysteries of the place (of Brahma)'. Chandradas (1925): 392.
147 I reckon that the concepts of clairvoyance and clairaudience introduced as divyacakṣu and

divyaśrota respectively in several schools of Indian philosophy including Buddhist, Jaina and
Mīmāṃsaka, seem, though uncertain, to have their roots in the Vedas, given the qualities of Varuṇa.
148 ṚV. 3.100.3.
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